Starlight
by silverphoenix00
Summary: The stars have decorated the heavens since the beginning of time and rare is the time when they fall. Now is one of those times.


They didn't have names, nor beginnings, nor foreseeable ends.

What they did have was ethereal and full of a magic so powerful and pure that even the sun hid away so they could shine. The stars that decorated the heavens and lit the midnight sky watched as the small, tiny creatures below reached for them, prayed to them, and looked up at them with the wonder of a bright-eyed child. But the stars were envious and cold, vicious in vying for the attention of those small creatures.

And then, one fell. Knocked from the heavens by his brothers and sisters and down to the earth below – alone, afraid, hunted.

The fallen star left a hole in the sky – a mysterious patch of darkness and void where his light should have been. And, as his body lay still in the crater he created, he looked up upon his brethren for the first time in his long life, no longer wondering how they looked in the eyes of the humans so far below.

His silver hair shone in the moonlight, faintly glowing with resonating power, and his cobalt eyes searching the skies for any sign of sympathy or rescue. There were none.

As he sat there, his heart grew impossibly heavy. It crushed him with the weight of betrayal and sadness. What had he done to deserve such a punishment? To be uprooted from his life, from his home, and to be cast down with no more than a second thought?

Before he could even beg to be forgiven, the star began to cry. Tears of crystals ran down his face, stained his white robes, and fell to the cold ground below, faintly lighting up the dark blades of grass before growing dim and dying. The star was not the first to fall, nor would he be the last, but in that moment, he was the only and he was alone. So alone and so vulnerable.

The star wept, unaware of the silent figures lurking in the shadows – watching and plotting with such dastardly thoughts, too impure for the star to even comprehend. The figure who sat watching was filled with carnal selfishness, his hungry eyes raking over the broken star and fantasizing about the limitless magic that would soon be at his fingertips. With the flick of his hand, shadows of the night wrapped themselves around the star, suffocating his light and clawing at the immeasurable power within him.

The star's cries grew loud and panicked as his light flickered weakly and he was drowning within the dark sea smothering him. But fate was kind to the star and, at that moment, another mystical creature heard his distress and appeared to help the distraught star.

At the creature's presence, the shadows surrounding the star melted away, allowing him to clearly see the canine cautiously approaching. The animal's muscles were taut, sensing the dark magic that hung deadly in the air and ready for an unseen attack from the harmful presence who had attacked the star before him. But the cowardly figure was gone, vanishing as the shadows retreated from the star.

"What troubles you, my dear star?" the canine asked.

The star's eyes searched the heavens once more, silently pleading with his brethren to raise him up, just as they had cast him out, so that he could light the midnight sky's as he once had. The effort was fruitless and all he was left with was silence and the twinkling lights of those who had betrayed him.

"My brothers and sisters have forsaken me," wept the star, more tears of crystal falling from his eyes and to the ground. "They have cast me down to a foreign world and left me to perish alone."

A faint, soothing breeze rustled through the trees surrounding the two ethereal beings. As the whisper of leaves filled their ears, the breeze brushed through the star's silver strands of hair, which danced weightlessly to the music of the forest.

The canine chuckled lightly, "My dearest star, you are not alone. I am here now and I will guide you through this world. Do not weep over those who do not want you - they have lost something immeasurable and are not worthy of the tears you shed. Instead, search for those who will cherish your light and bask in it, they will gain what the others have lost. Come now, there is an inn nearby in which you can eat and rest."

And so, the star stood from his place in the crater and followed through the darkened wood, stumbling over his own feet as if they themselves were roots peeking out of the forest floor to reach for him. Time was nothing but the tangled leaves in his hair; nothing but the branches clawing his porcelain skin; and nothing but the cold, sharp rocks cutting into his bare feet.

Time was nothing because the midnight sky above was no more than that of the canopy of the trees, covering the starlight and the watchful eye of the moon. His mother. His protector. His forsaker. There was nothing but the blackness of the sky and the shadows of the forest, hollow and empty in their quest for light. And they were reaching, always reaching.

Until, finally, the darkness peeled away, revealing to the star a valley of light to rival that of his brothers and sisters stilling hanging in the sky. The light of the valley was different than that of the ethereal light of the stars, it was warm and kind and danced with life and love. They were most certainly not the lights of his brethren above; these lights were infinitely better.

"The inn lays in the valley below," said the canine, "The beds are warm, the food is filling, and the people are hospitable. It is a good refuge."

The star remained silent, choosing instead to bask in the warmth of the valley light, twinkling tantalizingly in the slope of the valley as the canine guided the star closer and closer, ignoring the indignant shining of his vain breatharian above.

The inn was a quaint thing, its windows glowing an inviting, soft orange that fell upon the wooden panes on its outside, reminding the star of the colors of the morning sunrise. Slowly, the door to the inn cracked open, the orange light spilling from it and into the night, revealing a woman standing in the entryway to greet the two beings. Her stature was short and plump, her face rounded slightly and lined delicately with short strands of midnight hair. The brown of her eyes held the same warmth held by the orange spilling from the opening, sparkling with the power of a strong hearth.

"Good innkeeper," began the canine, giving the woman a steep bow, "My companion and I would like to humbly request housing in your inn. We have no money, nor anything to give in exchange for your kindness, but-"

"There is no need for payment," the innkeeper interrupted softly. Her kind eyes wrinkled in the corners when she smiled and swept over the haggard star. The star's thoughts were filled of home. Not his home, but of a true home. Of an undying, eternal love with the strength of millions of years and of a wisdom not even his brothers and sisters could rival. The woman stepped aside quickly, allowing the two strangers into her home without a second thought. "Come in, young one. My husband will prepare your room, my son will pour you a warm bath, and I will make you a warm meal to eat."

"Thank you," whispered the tired star, diamond tears pricking at the corners of his eyes for the third time that night. He couldn't understand how the woman's heart could be so open and kind to a stranger, how she so willingly opened her home so quickly. A weight lifted off the star's shoulders, relief flooding him like the dam of a river being broken, swift and sudden and all at once. The star passed through the doorway and into the orange light, allowing himself to be bathed in the warmth as it sunk into his skin, slowly ebbing away at the chill in his bones. The woman rested a small hand the small of his back, as the canine followed close behind him.

"Oh, you poor thing, you're freezing," the star heard the woman mumble under her breath. Warm hands pressed softly against his cheek, seeping up cold as a sponge soaks in water. "Yuuri? Yuuri?!"

To his left, the star heard light footsteps against the wooden floors, soft and delicate as they approached the entryway. The star had seen ethereal beauty, he had been ethereal beauty, shining in the sky to eliminate the infinite darkness. The young man who appeared in the doorway could not compare to anything the star had ever seen before.

He was stunning, the most captivating thing the star had ever seen, either in the heavens above or in his short time on the ground. None of the words the star could think of could ever properly describe him. Yuuri's dark hair licked at his brown eyes, eyes that seemed to pool with the infinite warmth of his personality like a spring pooling with pure, cool water. But there was also a shyness there as those same eyes hid away from him, casted towards the ground. "Yes, mother?"

"Dear, will you pour this boy a bath?"

Yuuri's eyes flickered up and glowed in the orange light, like chocolate freshly melted in the midst of a summer's day. As those eyes settled on him, the star was overcome with a feeling of inadequacy; his long, silver hair was tangled, his robes were ripped, his snowy skin was scraped, and his light was no longer worthy of the heavens above. If he wasn't worthy of lighting the heavens how could he possibly be worthy of the man standing before him?

"Of course," he said, his voice smooth and calming. Yuuri gave the star a tentative smile that sent warmth through the star's veins, a warmth surely no fire or hearth could replicate with ease. Yuuri reached a long arm out to him, inviting the star to follow. "Follow me."

And follow the star did.

Certainly, he would follow the man anywhere he led.

"So," Yuuri began softly, seeming to choose his words with a practiced ease as he led the star through the halls of the inn. His canine companion followed closely behind, fearing that leaving the powerful being would result in him falling prey to greed for the second time in that horribly long night, "what is your name?"

The star blinked, confused at the question from the man.

"What?" he continued, observing the star's reaction to fuel his own confusion. "Do you not have a name?"

"No," the star answered with hesitance. Was it not normal in this world to not have a name? "My people have no need of them, so, I was never given one."

"Well," Yuuri's melodic chuckle echoed softly on the walls as they entered a smaller room. Another roaring fire bathed the walls in a beautiful orange and refracted off a bronze tub while its flames licked at the bottom black cauldron to warm the water within, "we need something to call you."

The star looked at the canine for assistance, who had taken refuge next to the fire to bask in its warmth.

"The star's name in this world shall be Viktor," said the canine. Yuuri took the cauldron from its place above the fire and began to pour the water into the bath. Steam rose as the water was poured and the star watched with rapt attention, bones aching at the sight. "And you may call me Makkachin."

"Makkachin and Viktor," Yuuri repeated, the last of the water dripping into the tub and settling to create a pristine, inky surface like that of mirrored glass.

The star was unsure about the name Makkachin had chosen for him, but if it was rolling off Yuuri's tongue in the way that caused his heart to burst joyously like that of a thousand fireworks, then he would gladly take on the name.

"It suits you," he finally said, a small, kind smile on his face as he placed the cauldron aside. The innkeeper's son turned to leave when he saw Viktor's gaze flickered between him and the tub of water, an unasked question lighting his cobalt eyes and searching Yuuri's for a cue. Viktor simply didn't want Yuuri to leave and searched for a reason to keep the man by his side.

"Would you like me to untangle your hair?" Yuuri asked, his soft voice quiet on the walls of the room. Sleepily, Viktor nodded, a yawn wracking through his being as the weight of the night came to fully rest upon his shoulders. Slowly, Viktor took off his torn robes, allowing them to pool at his ankles, and sank into the gentle warmth of the water, breaking the still glass of water's surface with light ripples that lapped softly against the side of the tub.

As the star submerged in the water, Yuuri sat took a place behind Viktor's head and pressed cool fingertips to his temples, softly coaxing the star to sink further into the water. As he did, his silver hair fanned out and drew white veins in the midnight water while his glistening cobalt eyes fell shut, weariness finally overcoming his senses.

As Viktor's head came up from the water, the silver veins in the inky surface disappeared as his hair was draped over the side of the tub. With a tapestry of silver in front of him, Yuuri gently worked through the tangles, running a comb through the wet strands with a delicate hand. Viktor's head fell back to rest against the cool metal of the tub, basking in the light tugging on his hair and the warmth of the water and the steady crackle of the fire and the contented feeling hanging in the air around them.

A light humming filled the air as the star's hair began to smooth. The rhythm was simple and slow, but beautiful and strong, holding the emotions of the heavens and telling the story of starlight. And as the humming grew, the star himself began to glow with the ethereal power of the sky. His pale skin reflected the light of the fire, but soon grew into a silvery, powerful light of its own – one that had beautifully lit the sky for countless nights before and one that banished the darkness of the inky, midnight water with a dazzling, celestial light.

And, as Makkachin sat watching, starlight filled the room and spilled out the windows, glowing powerfully. Hanging high above in the sky, Viktor's brothers and sisters watched in jealousy at their brother below.

The stars burned angrily and their lights brightened, but it could never hope to compare to the light from the inn.

* * *

Hi friends! So, this is something that has been sitting on my computer for a loooooooooooooooooooooong time. Originally it was an original work I wrote for a 15 minute prompt thing with some of my friends, but then I finished it and it turned into this!


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